If you’ve spent any amount of time around youth ministry, or just about any non-profit for that matter, you’re probably familiar with bottle drives.

Our Young Life Dawson Creek bottle drive fundraisers have become a regular part of what we do throughout the year.

Collect. Sort. Return. Repeat.

We collect what sometimes feels like an endless amount of recycling to help teenagers earn their way to camp, support leader retreats, fund activities, and keep Young Life programs accessible to young people in our community.

Sometimes it feels like the fundraising never stops!

But when you see what it makes possible, you remember exactly why we do it.

And this year, something changed.

From Dreading It to Loving It

Like most teenagers, our crew wasn’t exactly jumping for joy at the thought of going door-to-door asking strangers for their recycling.

At least, not at first.

Somewhere along the way, bottle drives became… fun.

Suddenly, it was a competition.

Who could get the most “YES!” responses?

Who could come up with the funniest way to knock on a door?

And inevitably, from somewhere in the truck:

“Hey Bryce! Turn the music up louder!”

So, if you’ve seen a truck full of teenagers cruising around Dawson Creek, singing, dancing, laughing, and collecting bottles… yep. Those are probably our Young Life teens!

What started as something they had to do became something they genuinely looked forward to.

Breakfast & Bottles

Over the past five months, we also started something new called YL B&B: Young Life Breakfast & Bottles.

Once a month, our teenagers would get up early and gather at First Baptist Church, where some incredibly generous people from the church would prepare breakfast for them before they headed out to collect recycling.

There was something really special about watching those two worlds come together.

Our church elders had an opportunity to meet and serve teenagers they might not otherwise have known, while our teens experienced adults from our community feeding them, encouraging them, cheering them on, and investing in what they were working toward.

It became about much more than bottles.

It became community!

And Then Summer Arrived…

There was, however, one small consequence to five months of bottle drives.

My yard was FULL OF BOTTLES!!

For years, our home has often become the unofficial Young Life bottle depot. Bags arrive. Bottles pile up. More bags arrive!

Before long, part of our side pasture begins looking suspiciously like a recycling centre.

With summer arriving and camp quickly approaching, it was finally time to tackle the mountain and sort it all.

There was just one challenge.

We live about 25 kilometres outside of Dawson Creek.

Normally, that means I’m making trips into town to pick up teenagers who need rides. But most of the teens had told me they had transportation figured out.

Including one particular teenager.

Or so I thought.

“Wait… Did He Ride That Here?!!”

About an hour before everyone was supposed to arrive, our dogs suddenly started going crazy outside.

No one had heard any honking or a vehicle pulling into the driveway.

Then we looked outside.

Standing in our driveway was one of our teenagers…

WITH HIS DIRT BIKE!!

He had ridden his electric dirt bike all the way from town to our house, roughly 25 to 30 kilometres, just so he could come help sort bottles and continue earning his way to camp.

His parents were away for the day and couldn’t drive him.

So he found another way.

That’s dedication!

That’s determination!

That’s excitement for camp!!!

And apparently, that’s one way to turn a bottle drive into an adventure.

I couldn’t believe it!! Never before!!

I was impressed. I was surprised. And I was definitely wondering how much battery he had left for the trip home!

But more than anything, I saw a teenager who had decided that this mattered enough to show up.

There was an obstacle in his way, and instead of saying, “I guess I can’t come,” he found a way to get there!

That excitement has become contagious among our teens.

They know what they’re working toward.

RockRidge Canyon!!

And they are fired up to get there.

More Than $3,000…
One Bottle at a Time

By the time it was all said and done, our teenagers, alongside some incredible parents and siblings, sorted through more than $3,000 worth of recycling.

One bottle at a time.

Every bag collected, every door knocked on, every early morning, and every hour spent sorting helped move these teenagers closer to an incredible week at RockRidge Canyon.

But when I look back at these bottle drives, the money isn’t what stands out most.

It’s teenagers learning to work hard.

It’s parents and siblings jumping in to help (a big thanks to those it did! You know who you are!!)

It’s church elders waking up early to cook breakfast.

It’s laughter coming from the back of a truck.

It’s teenagers knocking on one more door.

It’s a community donating their bottles because they believe in what these young people are working toward.

And yes…

Sometimes it’s a teenager riding a dirt bike 25 kilometres because he refuses to miss out.

That’s Young Life!

Meeting teenagers where they are, inviting them into something bigger, walking alongside them, and watching them discover just how much they’re capable of along the way – and when they need help, they discover even more – who they can lean on – Jesus!

Will You Help These Teens Get to Camp?

Our teenagers are doing their part.

They’re knocking on doors. They’re collecting bottles. They’re sorting recycling. They’re giving up Saturdays and early mornings. They’re working hard because they want to experience what could be one of the most unforgettable weeks of their lives.

Would you consider joining them?

You can help provide camp scholarships for Young Life Dawson Creek teenagers and help make it possible for more local youth to experience RockRidge Canyon.

Every gift, big or small, helps bring a teenager one step closer to camp.

Help these teens get to camp and become part of their story!

DONATE TOWARD CAMP SCHOLARSHIPS (online and secure)

Camp is almost here, and these teenagers are absolutely fired up!!

After watching them work this hard to get there…

we can’t wait to see what God has waiting for them at RockRidge Canyon!!